Podesta and the Clintons up to their eyeballs in Russian money

Now that John Podesta has become center stage in the latest drops from wiki Leaks, knowing what we now know about him, I thought I would give you a repeat of an earlier post. While the Clinton machine keeps spinning that Trump is in bed with the Russians rather it it they who are up to their eyeballs. Including one John Podesta. Here it is:

What is becoming apparent is that there are few connected with the Clinton money machine who are not enjoying the fruits of the Clintons. This story tells us how John Podesta made out collecting big bucks with Russia while no doubt selling our technology down the drain. But the Clintons are well-known for a penchant for selling out technology. Bill loved to do deals with China, looks like Hillary and her cohorts look toward Russia. First this, and then on to Podesta. We have this gem:

Russian Government Initiative Gave Millions to Clinton Foundation

A Moscow-based technology initiative funded in part by the Russian government funneled tens of millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of state, according to a new report released Monday.

As President Obama’s top diplomat, Clinton oversaw and facilitated the State Department’s failed five-year project to “reset” U.S.-Russia relations, which spurred the creation of Skolkovo, a research facility known as Russia’s version of Silicon Valley,Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer wrote in a new report, titled “From Russia with Money.”

But I digressed:

A bombshell report released Sunday by the non-partisan Government Accountability Institute (GAI) revealed that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, developed undisclosed relationships with a Putin-connected Russian government fund.

Podesta served on the executive board of an energy company called Joule Unlimited, which received $35 million from a Kremlin-connected entity.

Podesta was on the executive board of an energy company which received $35 million from a Kremlin-connected entity.

The energy company was part of a “Russian reset” program, which then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped initiate. The program was designed to build an “innovation city” called Skolkovo, a Russian equivalent to the U.S.’s Silicon Valley. Critics of the initiative, including the FBI, warned that the Russian government would use Skolkovo to gain access to technology and information that would help build up their military.

The GAI report says “Two months after Podesta joined the board, Vladimir Putin’s Rusnano announced that it would invest up to 1 billion rubles into Joule Unlimited, which amounts to $35 million. That represents one-fifth of the entire amount of investment dollars Joule collected from 2007 to 2013.”

Rusnano is a government-owned joint-stock company that was founded by Vladimir Putin in 2007.

It is unclear why Podesta failed to disclose reveal his membership on the board of one of the Joule entities, even though it was required by law. The revelation of Podesta’s secret relationship with Kremlin-connected entities, however, only raises more questions about the transparency and trustworthiness of the Clinton campaign — and casts into doubt the Democratic effort to paint Clinton’s opponent as too cozy with Russia.
More at Lifezette

Clinton and her pals awash in Russian money

What is becoming apparent is that there are few connected with the Clinton money machine who are not enjoying the fruits of the Clintons. This story tells us how John Podesta made out collecting big bucks with Russia while no doubt selling our technology down the drain. But the Clintons are well-known for a penchant for selling out technology. Bill loved to do deals with China, looks like Hillary and her cohorts look toward Russia. First this, and then on to Podesta. We have this gem:

Russian Government Initiative Gave Millions to Clinton Foundation

A Moscow-based technology initiative funded in part by the Russian government funneled tens of millions of dollars into the Clinton Foundation while Hillary Clinton was serving as secretary of state, according to a new report released Monday.

As President Obama’s top diplomat, Clinton oversaw and facilitated the State Department’s failed five-year project to “reset” U.S.-Russia relations, which spurred the creation of Skolkovo, a research facility known as Russia’s version of Silicon Valley, Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer wrote in a new report, titled “From Russia with Money.”

But I digressed:

A bombshell report released Sunday by the non-partisan Government Accountability Institute (GAI) revealed that John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, developed undisclosed relationships with a Putin-connected Russian government fund.

Podesta served on the executive board of an energy company called Joule Unlimited, which received $35 million from a Kremlin-connected entity.

Podesta was on the executive board of an energy company which received $35 million from a Kremlin-connected entity.

The energy company was part of a “Russian reset” program, which then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton helped initiate. The program was designed to build an “innovation city” called Skolkovo, a Russian equivalent to the U.S.’s Silicon Valley. Critics of the initiative, including the FBI, warned that the Russian government would use Skolkovo to gain access to technology and information that would help build up their military.

The GAI report says “Two months after Podesta joined the board, Vladimir Putin’s Rusnano announced that it would invest up to 1 billion rubles into Joule Unlimited, which amounts to $35 million. That represents one-fifth of the entire amount of investment dollars Joule collected from 2007 to 2013.”

Rusnano is a government-owned joint-stock company that was founded by Vladimir Putin in 2007.

It is unclear why Podesta failed to disclose reveal his membership on the board of one of the Joule entities, even though it was required by law. The revelation of Podesta’s secret relationship with Kremlin-connected entities, however, only raises more questions about the transparency and trustworthiness of the Clinton campaign — and casts into doubt the Democratic effort to paint Clinton’s opponent as too cozy with Russia.
More at Lifezette

Clinton won’t say if she scrubbed server

Apparently Hillary still thinks her Email and server are a joke. She did herself no service when she again defies reality and tells straight up lies. And that server sitting in the bathroom? She won’t answer if she scrubbed it because you see, she just doesn’t understand technology. But she did understand the Nixon tapes now didn’t she? (We can’t hear Ed Henry’s questions in the beginning)

Aetna CEO believes Obamacare IT failures until 2017

Wouldn’t this be the final kicker. If what is being suggested is true, there will not be any Obamacare. No one will be able to sign up. So let’s get the news back on to the details of this bad boy. One can only shudder at the thought of the IT implementation of processing claims if the present example of merely signing up is any example of the future.Here we go:

Obamacare IT systems are a continuing technical disaster, much worse than the “glitches” that the administration are describing.  It now turns out that the technical issues are much more serious.

Mark Bertolini, the CEO of insurance company Aetna Inc., has been personally involved in the implementation of Obamacare from the beginning, from both a policy and an IT perspective, Bertolini was interviewed on CNBC on Monday, and his technical assessment of the Obamacare websites is that they’re so bad they won’t be fully working until 2017.

The important points in Bertolini’s interview are these: Almost no testing has been done; implementation should have been delayed for a year; it’s going to take three years to get it working. From the Interview:

This project should have cost $10-25 million, as I described yesterday, but it’s already cost an astronomical $93.7 million.  Now the Obama administration has to decide whether this “bridge,” which is in the process of collapsing into the river, should be repaired, or whether the project should be started from scratch.  It’s quite possible that there’s no choice but to start it from scratch.  But either way, it’s going to cost many more tens of millions of dollars to get working, if it ever works.  And the Obama administration is so desperate to save Obamacare, they’ll do anything, no matter how desperate the action.

Full transcript of interview and more over at Breitbart

Feds seize 1700 Online Domains last three years, without due process

Back in February of 2011 I posted ICE shuts down 84,000 websites…again! Why do I revisit this again? Because in a little reported story this week that really is a big deal, the DHS, without due process, continues to shutter any website it chooses. Now we know the extent of their activity. Feds Seized 1,700 Online Domains in 3 Years. Guilty as charged. This is the precedent that can be used to shut down any website. Hang on to your blog with both hands! Website owners being treated similar to Drug kingpins.

The figures were buried in the White House’s 2013 “Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement,” (.pdf) and they represent about 50 seizures a month following the operation’s adoption three years ago.

Earlier in 2011: Senator Wants Answers from DHS Over Domain Name Seizures

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) said Friday he would demand answers from the Department of Homeland Security about its domain seizure program known as Operation in Our Sites after it was revealed that the government kept a hip-hop music review site’s name for a year without affording the owner a chance to challenge the seizure.

Wyden also wants to know why there was no court record of the case, other than the initial seizure filing a year ago.

Under the program, implemented by the nation’s first and only IP czar Victoria Espinel, federal authorities are taking .com, .org, and .net domains under the same civil-seizure law the government invokes to seize brick-and-mortar drug houses, bank accounts, and other property tied to alleged illegal activity. The feds are able to seize the domains because VeriSign — which controls the .net and .com names, and the Public Interest Registry, which runs .org — are U.S.-based organizations. Under U.S. civil forfeiture laws, the person losing the property has to prove that the items were not used to commit crimes.

One of those sites caught in that crackdown (.pdf) was dajaz1.com. Operation in Our Sites, run by the Department of Homeland Security, accused the site of allowing its users to download pre-release music. But as it turns out, some of that music was sent to the popular blog by the artists or labels.

Most of the subdomains in question are personal sites and sites of small businesses. A search on Bing still shows how innocent sites were claimed to promote child pornography. A rather damaging accusation, which scared and upset many of the site’s owners.

The US Government has yet again shuttered several domain names this week. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security’s ICE office proudly announced that they had seized domains related to counterfeit goods and child pornography. What they failed to mention, however, is that one of the targeted domains belongs to a free DNS provider, and that 84,000 websites were wrongfully accused of links to child pornography crimes.

As part of “Operation Save Our Children” ICE’s Cyber Crimes Center has again seized several domain names, but not without making a huge error. Last Friday, thousands of site owners were surprised by a rather worrying banner that was placed on their domain.

The domain in question is mooo.com, which belongs to the DNS provider FreeDNS. It is the most popular shared domain at afraid.org and as a result of the authorities’ actions a massive 84,000 subdomains were wrongfully seized as well. All sites were redirected to the banner below.

Federal authorities said today that, since June 2010, they have seized more than 1,700 domains that allegedly breached intellectual property rights.

 

H/T:Wired

IRS buying spying equipment including ‘concealed clock radios’

One would think the IRS would choose to keep a low profile what with all of the scandal going down. But no, they will not be deterred. Forget that Last week a second Inspector General report detailed nearly $50  million in wasteful spending by the agency on conferences, in which  employees stayed at luxurious Las Vegas hotels, paid a keynote speaker $17,000 to paint a picture of U2 singer Bono, and spent $50,000 on parody videos of “Star Trek.”

From the Fed Biz website here FBO.GOV

IRS Buying Spying Equipment: Covert Cameras in Coffee Trays, Plants.

Finishing out the order are four “Color IP Camera Concealment with  single channel network server, supports dual video stream, poe,  webviewer and cms software included, audio,” and two “Concealed clock  radio.”

The IRS  is ordering surveillance equipment that includes hidden  cameras in coffee trays, plants and clock radios.

The IRS wants to secure the surveillance equipment quickly – it  posted a solicitation on June 6 and is looking to close the deal by  Monday, June 10.  The agency already has a company lined up for the  order but is not commenting on the details.

“The Procurement Office acquires the products and services required to support the IRS mission,” according to its website.

“The Internal Revenue Service intends to award a Purchase Order to an undisclosed Corporation,” reads the solicitation.

“The following descriptions are vague due to the use and nature of the items,” it says.

“If you feel that you can provide the following equipment, please  respond to this email no later than 4 days after the solicitation date,”  the IRS said.

Among the items the agency will purchase are four “Covert Coffee  tray(s) with Camera concealment,” and four “Remote surveillance  system(s)” with “Built-in DVD Burner and 2 Internal HDDs, cameras.”

The IRS also is buying four cameras to hide in plants: “(QTY 4) Plant  Concealment Color 700 Lines Color IP Camera Concealment with Single  Channel Network Server, supports dual video stream, Poe [Power over  Ethernet], software included, case included, router included.”

H/T: CNS News

Obama signed Executive Order empowering Kill Switch over the Internet

On July 12, 2012 I posted the following story below. The Executive Order appeared in the Federal Register and there were 30 days for comment. There was little if any concern, and we bloggers were simply tin foil hat folks. I suggest one of the most dangerous moves Obama made. Now with the recent revelations, I thought this would be a good Sunday redo. So here we go:

Not much excitement about this apparently. So what he cannot do by Congressional action, he does by fiat. The interesting part is that his Executive Order was posted in the Federal Register.

Presidential powers over the Internet and telecommunications were laid out in a U.S. Senate bill in 2009, which proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet. But that legislation was not included in the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 earlier this year. I would ask, why must Janet Napolitano cut off private networks? I caught some discussion of this, and the rationale was that  “misinformation” may need to be curtailed. Where did I hear that before? Anyone still wondering where we are headed with this?

President Obama signed an executive order this week (July 12, 2012) that could give him control over the web in times of emergency.

According to The Verge, critics of the order are concerned with Section 5.2, which is a lengthy part outlining how telecommunications and the Internet are controlled. It states that the Secretary of Homeland Security will “oversee the development, testing, implementation, and sustainment” of national security and emergency preparedness measures on all systems, including private “non-military communications networks.” According to The Verge, critics say this gives Obama the on/off switch to the Web.

The order, known as the, “Assignment of National Security and Emergency Preparedness Communications Functions,” exists to hand over full control of communications and the internet to certain government authorities in times of natural disaster and security emergencies.

The wording for the executive order is of course lengthy and uses politician language, but the part worth pointing out is in section 5.2.It is in this section that the order states that Homeland Security will be able to monitor and control all non-military forms of communications in times of extreme measures, which is essentially giving the White House the on/off switch to the internet, according to some critics.

You can read more about the executive order, which still has 30 days before it becomes a law, over at CNET and The Verge. If you want to check out the order in its entirety, go to the White House press page. From the Examiner

Government also collecting credit-card transactions

Hot Air: Here’s another question.  Exactly how many terrorists use credit cards to buy the kinds of products that would create those patterns?

Here is the whistle blower who tells us how this whole thing is planned out. Nothing accidental about this:

The filmmaker Laura Poitras profiles William Binney, a 32-year veteran of the National Security Agency who helped design a top-secret program he says is broadly collecting Americans’ personal data. Two posts today.

As if the surveillance state didn’t have enough to do, what with tracking every call in America and scanning every Internet transaction. The Wall Street Journal reported late last night that the NSA has been cataloguing credit card transactions as well, rendering utterly void any concept of transactional privacy:

The National Security Agency’s monitoring of Americans includes customer records from the three major phone networks as well as emails and Web searches, and the agency also has cataloged credit-card transactions, said people familiar with the agency’s activities.

The disclosure this week of an order by a secret U.S. court for Verizon Communications Inc.’s phone records set off the latest public discussion of the program. But people familiar with the NSA’s operations said the initiative also encompasses phone-call data from AT&T Inc. and Sprint Nextel Corp., records from Internet-service providers and purchase information from credit-card providers.  …

NSA also obtains access to data from Internet service providers on Internet use such as data about email or website visits, several former officials said. NSA has established similar relationships with credit-card companies, three former officials said.

It couldn’t be determined if any of the Internet or credit-card arrangements are ongoing, as are the phone company efforts, or one-shot collection efforts. The credit-card firms, phone companies and NSA declined to comment for this article. More at Hot Air

On March 12 Ron Wyden who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee asked DNI James Clapper if the NSA collects data on millions of Americans. Clapper answer that no the NSA does not at least not wittingly collect info on American. In light of the report about the NSA collecting phone records from Verizon